The House of Hades
by Nocturnea
Summary: This is my own version of House of Hades; I couldn't wait for it to come out, so I made my own. I know there are a ton of these. Anyway, here's some of the prophecy: Relaxation invites; why not partake? Be spared of pain and the razing quake. HIATUS CURRENTLY


_Hi! This is my first PJO fanfiction, and I'm really excited to write it. I've been reading the PJO books since third grade, and I've read all to HoO books up to Mark of Athena. Since I've seen one of these for the Mark of Athena, I'm doing my own version of House of Hades. There are probably a gazillion of these, but I really want to do this. DISCLAIMER: I do not own PJO, HoO, or any of the characters, places, or concepts in them. At all. In any way._

Chapter 1

Piper

Though Annabeth and Percy falling into what was literally an endless pit of doom and despair was easily the worst event of… ever, Piper wasn't exactly having an amazing time the next day. Being attacked by Stymphalian birds was bad enough by itself. But prophecy-spouting Stymphalian birds? No thanks. Especially when those oracular and deadly birdies were rattling over and over a rhyme full of dire portents for Piper and two of her closest friends. In fact, Piper was contemplating ordering the birds to shut their annoying little beaks. Instead, she found that she was memorizing the lines.

**Lightning, lightning, all around,**

**Shadowy echoes of a pleasing sound,**

**Dove-child beware a frigid height,**

**Blood of eagle and owl raise the Earth queen's might.**

**Relaxation invites; why not partake?**

**Be spared from pain and the razing shake.**

During the battle against the birds, Piper thought as several times she'd die. Hazel was looking after the still pretty much incapacitated Nico, and Coach Hedge was protecting Leo, who was occupied steering the Argo II. But at last Frank shot down the last bird, and they were on their way to wherever they were going. They had spent the night aboard the Argo II, and left Rome minutes before being attacked by the Stymphalian birds. They hadn't really decided where to go. Camp Half-Blood seemed like the most in need; after all, the 12th Legion Fulminata would be attacking in a week at most, probably less because of that creep of an augur, Octavian. Piper wanted to discuss the issue, but trying to suggest it incited a mix of rage and worry. Luckily, Piper didn't have to suggest it at lunch/meeting, because Jason did.

"The legion will be attacking soon. Very soon." Jason said. Everyone nodded.

"You're the one who's been in the legion since you were toddling. How long do we have?" Leo asked.

"Five days at most. But with Octavian frenzying them, it could make it take up to a week with how unruly it would make the senate meetings. Then again, it could reduce the time to three days." Jason explained gravely.

"So basically, no time for fidgeting. Where to?" Hazel asked.

"Camp Half-Blood, obviously! They need our help." Piper said, a bit more forcefully than she wanted. Coach Hedge and Jason, who sat on her left and right respectively, nodded vigorous agreement. Piper mentally face-palmed.

"No, what would be better is if we were to close the Doors of Death. Preferably before Percy and Annabeth are driven insane or worse." Frank replied firmly.

"But we don't even know where the mortal side of the Doors are!" Piper protested.

"Nico does, right? Percy said so." Leo said. Piper glared at him, soliciting a squeak and stunned silence from Leo.

"I-I do." Nico affirmed, though shakily. Hazel put a hand on his shoulder. Though he was thirteen or fourteen and therefore might've been older than Hazel, he looked like a frightened little kid. He was very pale; he looked like he was wearing Hallowe'en vampire make-up. His dark hair was messy and his face was hollow, like he'd just gotten out of bed on a very bad day, and that very bad day had been glimmer and sunshine compared to the day before. His clothes looked about fifty sizes too large. Well, maybe not fifty, but that's what hyperbole is for.

"Please continue." Leo said. Piper could tell he was trying to be serious and businesslike, but he visibly seemed to want to hop and/or climb around like an oversized squirrel or bunny rabbit. The fact that he was bouncing on his chair and fidgeting with his tool belt was probably not convincing Nico to say anything.

"Please do." Piper added. Nico looked really, really hesitant and kind of afraid, but he answered anyway.

"House of Hades. Underground, in Epirus." Nico folded his arms and sulked like a little kid, adding to Piper's doubts about his actual age. Hazel patted him on the back reassuringly.

"We're closer to there, then. It'd take us, what, maybe three days to get to Camp if all goes well?" Jason asked Leo, who nodded.

"Which it most certainly will not." Leo added.

"Yeah, exactly. It'd take us maybe… one day to get to Epirus?" Jason asked.

"You kidding? No distractions or interruptions, we get there by 2 am tonight, tops." Leo said.

"Good. Set sail- er, oar- er, coordinates- oh whatever! The point is, we're off to Epirus." Jason replied.

They got to around nine o'clock at night with nothing going on but preparations and normal things: cleaning weapons, checking on the statue, etc. Piper sat on the deck, staring at Katoptris, while almost everyone else was in their cabins. Active word being, "almost".

"Hey." Piper squeaked and turned around to see who had snuck up on her. It was Jason Grace.

"The stars are really pretty tonight, aren't they?" Jason asked.

"I guess so. I hadn't noticed." Piper replied.

"Of course you didn't, since you were staring into that knife." Jason laughed. It was a warm sort of sound; light, gentle, and highly infectious. Before she registered it fully, Piper found herself laughing with him.

"You know, I've been wondering… this is probably the best opportunity I'll get for a long while to ask you this. What kind of thing did we do in your Mist memories of me?" Jason asked. Piper was a little shocked. It wasn't exactly prudent or anything, but it was a nice question, and he was right; there probably wouldn't be a good opportunity to ask something like that at the Doors of Death. So Piper told him about the time they had "spent together", making light of how little care the Wilderness school gave its students, putting stink bombs in the principal's office, to name a few. And… that one night when Piper remembered dancing with Jason, and they had shared a kiss.

"Well… why not?" Jason asked rhetorically, before leaning in towards Piper. She leaned to him too, and a few seconds later they receded and stared at the stars together.

"Now isn't this lovely! Don't you wish you could just stay like this, relax, and be free of your worries forever…" A sleepy, lullaby-like voice purred at them as a woman dressed in a teal, frilly nightgown approached. She had long, dark hair and cloudy light blue-green eyes, and she walked floatily and slowly, as if there were pillows around her feet, yet she held a regal stance and faint glow that suggested she might have been a minor goddess. Piper couldn't quite think of her name, though…

_That's all for now. If you review guessing who the woman is (here's a clue: she's somewhere between "very, very minor goddess" and "spirit"), I'll give you a sneak preview of the next chapter of one of my stories and ten mental cookies._

_Please review! I want to know what you think of this story. Have I done well or badly? I want to know, please. I'll only put up a new chapter after one month or five reviews. I want to eventually break my review record of six. Thanks for reading this and bye-bye!_


End file.
